Park is once again on the cutting edge

Third year the charm for city ice rink.

Third year the charm for city ice rink.

January 30, 2009|By LOU MUMFORD Tribune columnist

NILES -- Larry Allen remembers what it was like a couple of generations ago when he worked for Elmer Easton, a locksmith by trade, and Allen would help Easton tend to the ice rink at Niles' Eastside Park. As Allen and fellow Niles resident Larry Pickles both know, Easton was "the man'' when it came to setting up the ice at the park and taking care of the many kids who'd come to use it. "He'd park his trailer and he'd have ... a wood-burning stove, hot chocolate, candy bars, the whole bit. We as kids remember that,'' Pickles said. In those days -- the early 1960s -- Pickles would skate to the rink from his house several blocks away, hopping from one icy patch to another. It made for some good times and lasting memories. Then Pickles and his buddies grew up, Easton died and the rink disappeared. Ice skating in Niles was all but forgotten until a few years ago when Allen decided he'd take a stab at reviving the park's rink. But establishing an ice-skating surface isn't as simple as flooding an area and allowing it to freeze, as Allen, Pickles and other volunteers soon learned. After sitting dormant for so long, the clay that had served as the rink's base had dried up and split, Pickles said, leading to air pockets and some rough skating. It didn't help either that the winter weather the first two years included several freeze-and-thaw cycles. "It was two years of frustration,'' Pickles said. But the third year, apparently, has been the charm, thanks in part to a more accommodating Old Man Winter. Niles City Councilman Tim Skalla spread the credit, pointing to the rink liner donated by the Niles City Council, the frame supplied by Shawn Mooney as an Eagle Scout project and the street light installed by the Niles Utilities Department. Skalla, too, has pitched in, as has his wife, Candace, their children, William and Stephanie, and volunteers Allen, Pickles, Chad Sabat, Paul Mooney, Cody Cummings and Dick Hamm. Also, Jane Greene donated a tractor with a snowblower to help clear the ice, and the city Fire Department has provided old hoses. Kevin Pegan, Mike Peters and Bruce Williams do the plowing. Hockey players, too, help clear the surface, to the extent that they now have the run of the rink on Fridays after school. Because many youngsters these days lack skates, volunteers have rounded up dozens of pairs and make them available at no charge. Also, a box has been set up at City Hall for anyone wishing to donate skates for the loan program. Pickles said his only disappointment is the rink hasn't received the use he thought it might. His hope, he said, is that things pick up as the word spreads and should efforts pan out, to add restroom facilities and a warming station. Even at 56, Pickles said he tests the surface on occasion. "I got a new pair of skates for Christmas. My wife said I was like a kid,'' he said. "I'll tell you, that ice is a lot harder than it used to be.'' That apparently is the only downside.